Be on the lookout on campus or in downtown Chattanooga for bikes wrapped with a design of UTC colors with the Chattanooga skyline. UTC student Mikey Clavin’s design was chosen in the first ‘Moc My Ride’ contest, a partnership between Bike Chattanooga and UTC Athletics.
The ‘Moc My Ride’ contest was an open competition inviting UTC students to create a unique bike design to be displayed and wrapped on five special bikes. Students were asked to submit bike art based on what being a Chattanooga Moc means to them, what inspires them to ride, and what makes Chattanooga such a unique place to live.
“The purpose of the contest was to engage students with the Chattanooga community and strengthen the connection the University has with the city of Chattanooga. Partnering with Bike Chattanooga was the perfect fit. Many of our students bike and there are several Bike Chattanooga stations on campus,” Geoff Wilcox, Director of Marketing and Promotions for UTC Athletics, said.
Though Clavin is now studying chemical and environmental engineering at UTC, he still got to put the skills he learned in high school to good use.
“I heard about the contest through an email sent out to all of the students. Although I am not studying design, I took a digital arts class my senior year of high school and enjoyed working in both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I thought that the Moc My Ride contest would be a great way to put my skills that I learned in that class to the test,” he said.
Clavin wanted his design to tie together the University and the city of Chattanooga.
“I had several different ideas that I worked on, but my final design features the Market Street Bridge with mountains in the background and a mockingbird flying above. The bike includes all of the UTC colors – a blue frame; gold, grey and white stripes; and gold outlining. The design also includes the popular UTC ‘CHATTANOOGA’ and Power ‘C’ logos,” he said.
After spending more than fourteen hours on his design, Clavin calls it “amazing” to see it come to life.
“It is a very cool feeling to walk around campus, or drive around Chattanooga and see someone riding a bike with my design on it and know that I created it,” he said.
